Bottom mount refrigerators include a freezer compartment on the bottom, with the fresh food or refrigerator compartment above the freezer compartment. One or more doors provide access to the fresh food compartment, and a separate door provides access to the freezer compartment. The freezer door or doors may be drawer-type doors that are pulled out, or they may be hingedly connected similar to the refrigerator compartment doors, such that they are rotated to provide access within.
Ice makers may be included with the refrigerators. In general, the ice maker includes a water source, a cooling source, a mold, and an ejecting mechanism. Water is added to the mold, and the cooling source removes heat from the water to lower the temperature below freezing, at which time ice cubes are formed. Once the cubes have formed, the ejecting mechanism operates to remove or eject the formed cubes from the molds, at which point new water can be added and the process repeated.
The ejected ice cubes are generally directed towards an ice container or ice storage bin. The ice container is located generally adjacent to the ice maker so that the formed ice cubes do not have to travel a long distance from the ice maker. Furthermore, the cooled air of the cooling source may be used to direct cold air to the ice container to keep the ice cubes in the ice container below freezing to prevent the cubes from melting. The ice container may include an optional ice crushing assembly positioned either in or adjacent the ice container. The ice crushing assembly is used to crush the formed ice cubes during or prior to dispensement from a dispenser of the refrigerator.
With traditional ice crushing assemblies, there is a fixed set of crushing blades and a set of rotating crushing blades. The crushing blades are configured for a crescent-shaped ice cube. When the desire for different shapes and sizes of ice cubes arise, there is a problem crushing smaller cubes with the existing ice crushing set-up. As the rotating crushing blades do not generally extend to the outer perimeter of the ice container, there can exist a gap between the rotating crushing blades and the perimeter. On occasion, smaller ice cubes have the capability of passing through the crusher blades on the outer perimeter of the ice container without being crushed.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for an improved ice crushing assembly that can be used with any size or shape of formed ice cubes to ensure that the ice cubes are crushed by the assembly, when the crushing method has been selected.